Title 49 › SUBTITLE VII — AVIATION PROGRAMS › PART B — AIRPORT DEVELOPMENT AND NOISE › CHAPTER 471 — AIRPORT DEVELOPMENT › SUBCHAPTER I — AIRPORT IMPROVEMENT › § 47114
The Secretary of Transportation must divide the new airport money on the first day of each fiscal year. Money for primary airports is paid by passenger boardings in tiers: $15.60 for each of the first 50,000 boardings, $10.40 for the next 50,000, $5.20 for the next 400,000, $1.30 for the next 500,000, and $1.00 for each additional boarding. Each primary airport gets at least $1,300,000 and no more than $22,000,000. A brand new airport gets $1,300,000 its first year. Nonprimary commercial airports get $60 for each of the first 2,500 boardings and $153.33 for the next 7,499 boardings. For fiscal year 2024, the Secretary uses whichever year (2018, 2019, or the most recent full year) gives the airport the most money. Public airports used by military reserve units that were primary in 2017 are treated as primary for 2025–2028. Four percent of the funds go to airports that only handle cargo and have more than 25,000,000 pounds of landed weight, and that money is split by each airport’s landed weight. If total funding under section 48103 is $3,200,000,000 or more, 25 percent of the money goes to general aviation and reliever airports. Each such airport gets the lesser of $150,000 or one‑fifth of its five‑year improvement cost in the FAA plan, and the rest is split among states with 0.62 percent for Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands, and the remainder split about half by state population and half by state area. The Secretary can let Alaska use an older 1980 method but must still meet minimums and may double Alaska’s total when funding is at least $3,200,000,000. States may ask to use state highway rules for small airfield pavement if safety and pavement life are not harmed. Funds can be used for system planning and the Secretary may give the primary airport minimum to an airport that had a large carrier and more than 10,000 boardings. If a medium or large hub airport charges a passenger fee, its apportionment is reduced by 40 percent of projected fee revenue when the fee is $3.00 or less, or by 60 percent when the fee is more than $3.00 (with special limits for Hawaii). Reductions start the fiscal year after fee collection begins and apply only after the airport has been a medium or large hub for three years. The Secretary must also apportion funds for Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories and may still make discretionary grants to those airports.
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Reference
Citation
49 U.S.C. § 47114
Title 49, Transportation
Last Updated
Sep 22, 2026
Release point: 119-110